Social networking sites accused of breaching the Disability Discrimination Act
Abilitynet, a charity which brings the benefits of computer technology to people with disabilities, has accused Yahoo, Facebook. Bebo, Youtube and MySpace of locking out disabled visitors and breaching the Disability Discrimination Act by not making “reasonable adjustments” for people with special needs. I have one thing to say about this report. I think it is political correctness gone mad. They talk about visually impaired people not being able to use the sites because of verification code images. Have they never seen the message saying “If you can not see this image click here.” Which, by the way, I got from yahoo. I “clicked here” and was taken straight to a help page.
Personally, I have always loved yahoo and I need to visit Facebook once a day. I’ve never thought that much of Bebo, but I know that my DisAbled friends use MySpace. As for Facebook, there are loads of DisAbled users there, and loads of support groups for them too! Has Abilitynet ever thought that the DisAbled people who don’t use social networking simply can’t use computers at all? Or that they simply don’t want to be members of the sites? I could be wrong, of course, but one of my DisAbled friends told me that she didn’t see the point of Facebook when all her friends had e-mail. Not that I agree with her. At all. That reminds me… I haven’t been to Facebook all day!
Same Difference 
It has nothing to do with ‘political correctness’. It is about having access to the same information and enjoyment as everyone else.
Try using your facebook with just my keyboard, without a mouse. Take note how much more effect it take you and times it by 3, then you might start understand important accessibility is really is.
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